- 68 
.E54 





Oass^Fil. 



Book > E ^^ 



/ 



SERMON, y^ 



DELIVERED DEC. 31, 1820. 



THE LAST lord's DAY IN TMK 



it^Wf 



3INCE OUR FOREFATHERS FIRST SETTLED 



IN PLYMOUTH, 



Pastor of the f burcn ia Tranklin. 



BY NATHAN :\P:l ^WMONS, D. D. 



DEDHAM : 

FRIJITKD BT B. & W. B. MANN. 



1821. 



^2 



1 



;i 






r^i?frwTOTi|'^ OMUD 



II SAMUEL, vii. S3. 

And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, 
ivhmn God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him 
a name, and to do for you great things, and terrible, for thy landy 
before thy people, which thou rcdccmedst td thee from Egypt, from 
the nations and their gods 1 

IT is the character of good men to be wise and 
attentive observers of divine providence. They eye 
the hand and heart of God in public as well as in 
private favours. David having just been reflecting 
on the signal blessings, which God had bestowed 
upon himself, and which he had promised to bestow 
upon his posterity, was naturally led to contemplate 
and admire the more important and distinguishing 
blessings, which he had from the beginning bestowed 
upon his nation and kingdom. He was deeply im- 
pressed with a grateful s.-.nse of God's extraordinary 
and discriminating goodness to them, in their origin/ 
destination, and their present national prosperity. 
He devoutly appeals to God, whether he had not 
done greater and better things for his people Israel, 



than for any oilier nation in the world. '^ What ono 
nation in the earth is like thy people, even like 
Israel, whom God went to redeem for a [leoplc to 
himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you 
great things, and terrible for thy land, before thy 
people, which thou redeemcdst to thee from gvpt, 
from the nations and their gods.'" This concise and 
comprehensive representation of God's discrimina- 
ting goodness to Israel is folly confirmed, by the in- 
spired writers, who have given a particular history 
of the divine conduct towards that iiighly favoured 
people. They assure us, that God raised them up 
from the pure stock of Abraham, delivered tliem from 
their cruel bondage in Egypt, led them safely through 
the dangers of the wilderness, drove out the idola- 
trous nations to make room for them in the land of 
promise, where he raised them to an extraordinary 
height of national prosperity. And here it is no! too 
much to say^ that God has treated us with similar 
marks of his discriminating goodness, through every 
period of our national existence. To make this ap- 
pear, and to deduce the proper inferences from it, is 
the leading object of the present discourse. 

1 shall pass over the favours, which are common 
to us and to mankind in general, and take notice of 
those only, by which w^e have been highly distin- 
guished among the nations of the earth. 

1. Here it occurs, in the first place, that God rais- 
ed us up from pious and excellent Ancestors. Almost 
every other nation has risen from a base and degen- 
erate origin. The ancient Romans sprang from a 
mean and spurious brood of plunderers. The pres- 
lint European nations were generally, if not univer- 
s^lly, founded in ignorance, superstition:, and idolatry. 



9 

But our nation, like the peculiar people of God, waff 
planted a choice vine. Our Forefathers, instead of 
being the off-scouring of all tilings, were men of whom 
the world was not worthy. They were the glory and 
ornament of the land from whence they came. Those, 
who first came here with desires and hopes of making 
great fortunes, were completely disappointed and de- 
feated in their designs. Kut when others, who were 
moved by the higher motives of religion, attempted 
to plant a nation of Christians in this land of Pagan 
darkness and Idolatry, the hand of providence guided 
all their movements, and crowned their noble enter- 
prize with desired success. '! he fathers of our nation 
possessed every thing great and excellent in the eyes 
of the world, except riches and honours, Vv'hich they 
freely sacrificed for the attainment of more noble and 
important objects. They were men of courage and 
niagoanimity ; otherwise they would not have enga- 
ged in such a great aad hazardous undertaking. 
They were men of virtue and piety; otiservvise ihoy 
would not have given uf) all their worldly possessions 
and enjoyments for the sake of religion. They were 
also men of superiour knowledge, wisdom, and saga- 
city, and well established in some of the best princi- 
ples both of religion and government; otherwise they 
could not have devised and adopted so many wise 
and useful Institutions in their infant state. These 
principles many of them had acquired by deep erudi- 
tion, as well as by long observation and experience. 
They had felt the weight of both civil and religious 
oppression. They had been denied the common 
rights of humanity and religion. This led them to 
examine these subjects with attention and acciiracy. 
The result was a clear conviction of the truth aiu! 



6 

importance of the pure principles which they brought 
^y\U^ iheni here, and upon which they uniformly ac- 
ted in all their public and private concerns, whether 
of a civil or religious nature. These principles ap- 
peared to them in such an important light, that they 
made the best provision in their power, to transmit 
them pure and uncorrupt to their remotest posterity- 
Such a choice vine, planted in a new and rich soil, 
could not fail of producing excellent fruit It has 
been the peculiar privilege and glory of our nation^ 
as it was of the people of Israel, that when our pro- 
genitors went after God in the wilderness, in a land 
not sown, they were holiness unto the Lord, and the 
first fruits of his increase. We are now sharing 
largely in the happy effects of their wisdom, virtue, 
piety, and paternal affection. What one nation now 
on earth can trace their origin to such a pure and ex- 
cellent source ! 

3. It is a grept and distinguishing favour, that God 
has given us so much liberty, and so many opportu- 
nities, of forming our own civil and religious Institu- 
tions. Civil and religious institutions in all countries, 
except Ju iea, have generally been owing to chance, 
or violence. The notion of an original compact be- 
tween rulers and subjects, upon which some theories 
of government have been built, appears to be alto- 
gether visionary and unfounded. The truth is, na- 
tions have commonly come together by chance, and 
united by chance, without an ; explicit compact be- 
tween the governors and the governed. And where 
any people have not formed their civil and religious 
institutions in this way, they have received their laws 
and religion from their conquerors. This has been 
the case with respect to the ancient nations of Europe, 



Asia, and Africa. Their civil and religious institu- 
tions have been formed, overturned, and new-formed, 
by those who from time to time gained an absolute 
and arbitrary dominion over them. Rome heathen, 
and Rome christian have had a hand in almost every 
civil and religious establishment in three quarters of 
the globe. Rome heathen, before the rise of the Pope, 
was often very indulgent to the laws and religions of 
their conquered countries. But after Rome became 
christian, her bishops rapidly gained both civil and 
ecclesiastical power, until the Pope usurped an abso- 
lute civil and ecclesiastical Supremacy over a great- 
er part of the churches and governments of the chris- 
tian world, who have not thoroughly purged them- 
selves from all his false doctrines, absurd ceremonies, 
and tyrannical influence, to this day. It is a great 
and distinguishing favour, that God has given us from 
the beginning full liberty and fair opportunities of 
forming our own civil and religious institutions. 
AV'hen our forefathers fled from the reach and influ- 
ence of their cruel persecutors, they found themselves 
at perfect liberty to choose their own forms of religion 
and government. Accordingly, they assumed their 
own rights and exercised their own choice. They 
had none to fear or to please but themselves, in their 
civil and religious concerns. Every one had his 
Voice, though not perhaps his choice, in all public 
transactions. They employed the liberty and oppor- 
tunity they enjoyed, in devising and adopting just 
such a government as they considered the best ; and 
agreed in just such religious principles and modes of 
worship as they supposed to be most agreeable to the 
word of God. They pnacted their own laws, and 
elected their own rulers. They establisUed their »wn 



terms of admission into tho cliuvcli, and their own or- 
<ler of ecclesiastical discipline. They chose their 
own religious teachers, and fixed the modes and cer- 
emonies in the administration of cliristian ordinances. 
All these things they did, as soon as they resolved 
upon a permanent settlement in this country. In 
about a century and half after that period, we had 
anotlier opportunity «f revising, altering, and new- 
modeling our civil constitutions. In that state of na- 
tional maturity, we employed all our learning, wis- 
dom, and experience in framing a civil constitution, 
which we deemed the best we could form, for such a 
people as ourselves. And in matters of religion, we 
left every one, where he ought to be left, in the exer- 
cise of his own reason and conscience, without the 
least restraint, or compulsion. Religion and govern- 
ment must be allowed to be the greatest of all nation- 
al concerns ; and to enjoy complete liberty in respect 
to these important objects, is to enjoy the greatest ci- 
vil and religious freedom, that any nation can possi- 
bly possess. And in this respect, what nation is there 
now on earth, whom God has so highly favoured and 
distinguished as these American States? 

3. God has remarkably smiled upon us, in respect 
to our growth, protection, and outward prosperity. 
The increase of our numbers has been rapid beyond 
example. ^'Health has usually existed here, in a 
degree, not often equalled, and perhaps never exceed- 
ed. In some towns it appears, by long continued 
resisters of births and deaths, that one out of four and 
one out of five, extensively one out of six, and gen- 
erally one out of seven, of those who are born, live to 
seventy years of age ; and half of those who arc born, 
live to twenty years, ^' This longevity, to whatever 



9 

causes it may be ascribed, whether (he salubrity of 
our climates, the industry of our people, or their fru- 
ga,l and temperate modes of living, has greatly con- 
tributed to increase our population. *'In the year 
1700, there were one hundred and fifteen incorpora- 
ted towns in New-England, and probably about 80, 
000 inhabitants. There are now about eight hundred 
and sixty towns, and probably 1,200,000 people.^' 
Such a vast increase of population in the last hun- 
dred years, notwithstanding the multitudes that have 
been slain and perished in the cruel and bloody wars, 
which have followed one another, in the course of 
forty or fifty years past, is a signal display of divine 
gooduess towards us. But the increase of our num- 
bers is but a small thing, in comparison with the ma- 
ny signal instances of divine mercy towards us, in 
times of darkness and deep distress. We have al- 
ways, till very lately, been imminently exposed to 
national dangers. But God has carried us, as on 
eagles' wings, through every period of our national 
existence. When our forefathers first reached these 
then inhospitable shores, they were exposed to the 
severest sufferings from an inclement season, a sav- 
age enemy, a threatening famine, and a raging pesti- 
lence. But amidst all these dangers, He in whom 
they trusted, provided a place of habitation, awaken- 
ed the pity or alarmed the fears of the savages, and 
prevented their utter extinction. The remntint that 
survived gradually multiplied, and soon began to 
penetrate further and farther into the country, to set- 
tle towns, to plant churches, and to form several sep- 
arate and large colonies, notwithstanding the wilder- 
ness was full of subtile enemies, who were continual- 
ly plotting to molest and destroy them. Yet God 



10' 

caused their enemies gradually to retire or flee before 
them ; or else gave them power to restrain or subdue 
them. Divine providence wonderfully preserved and 
supported them amidst these fiery trials and ardent 
struggles for about one hundred and fifty years. 
These wars with the natives of the country had hard- 
ly ceased, before France exerted her power and long 
practised policy, to bring us under her control and 
dominion, by erecting a chain of forts on our north- 
ern and western frontiers, which brought on a bloody 
and expensive war. But God graciously supported 
and succeeded us in that dangerous conflict. We 
then fondly anticipated long peace and security. But 
in a few years, we were awakened from our pleasing 
dreams by our parent country, who employed all their 
skill,, power, and wealth, to subject us to a state of 
abject subordination and bondage. The combat was 
very long, cruel, and in all respects distressing, but 
happily terminated in our complete freedom and in- 
dependence. 1 pass over without a single remark 
on the origin and issue of our last contest with that 
nation. Such have been the special interpositions of 
providence in our favour, in the times of our greatest 
dangers and calamities. AVhat nation is there in the 
earth, who have been so wonderfully protected and 
preserved as we have been, through the long period 
of two hundred years ! We as well as Israel may say, 
''Had not the Lord been on our side, when men ros8 
lip against us, we had been swallowed up, and the 
v/aters had overwhelmed us.*^ These extraordinary 
prcf^rvations have been attended and followed by a 
national prosperity no less extraordinary. For near- 
ly forty years, wealth has been poured in upon us, 
like the waves of the sea ; which has disposed and 



11 

enabled ns, to make great and rapid improvements 
'•in literature, civilization, and every thing which can 
ameliate the state of man. At the commencement of 
the last century, there was but one college complete- 
ly founded in New-England. Now there are six. 
In all the colonies, now states, south of Connecticut, 
there was then but one college, and now there are 
fifteen or sixteen." If we look over the world, where 
shall we find a spot on the face of the earth, where 
the inhabitants have been so rapidly increased, so 
signally preserved, and so highly prospered, as the 
people of America? We ought still further toreflect^ 
4. That God has graciously distinguished us by 
spiritual, as well as temporal prosperity. The first 
ministers, whom God disposed to visit and settle in 
this country, were generally men of great learning, 
great talents, and eminent piety. They were equal, 
in all these respects, to the best of their brethren, 
whom they left behind in the ministry. They were 
profound theologians. They understood the distin- 
guishing doctrines of the gospel, and taught thetn 
with great plainness and pungency. They formed 
and regulated churches according to the apostolic 
pattern. Many were turned from darkness to light 
by their faithful instructions and labours. The great- 
er part of the people in general, for a considerable 
time, were professors of religion, and apparently 
jfious. They lived like pilgrims and strangers on 
the earth, and declared by their conduct, that they 
sought a country better than that they had left, or that 
they had found. As their descendants spread over a 
wider and wider extent of country, they lost some of 
their religious advantages, and gradually declined in 
the correctness of their sentiments and strictness of 



IS 

their practice. But they continued to maintain the 
character of a virtiKuis anil pious people, during the 
first century to the beginning of the second, when re- 
vivals of religion became more frequent. In 1733, 
there was an unusual seriousness and attention to re- 
ligion in several places in Xew-I^^nglaiul. After 
this, in 17'!^ 1^ there was a much more general a .d 
powerful effusion of the Divine Spirit through the 
country, which produced the happiest effects. Among 
these,, one was, that it led some of the divines in New- 
England more thoroughly to investigate, more clear- 
ly to understand, and more plainly to teach the pure 
and distinguishing doctrines of the gospel. Besides 
that great revival, there have been almost every yea? 
since, particular revivals in particular churches and 
congregations, which have kept religion generally in 
a flourishing state. This religious prosperity is more 
worthy of a grateful notice, because it has been gran- 
ted while religious errours and declensions were vis- 
ibly appearing among both ministers and people. 
"Within this thirty years, Errorists have abounded. 
Some have denied the inspiration of the Scriptures. 
Some have denied that system of religious sentiments^ 
which was believed and taught by our forefathers. 
And some have broached doctrines too novel, too un- 
scriptural, and visionary to be mentioned. But God 
has gloriously triumphed over the united zeal and 
exertions of bold and presumptuous corrupters. Some 
have been brought to renounce their errours, comply 
with the terms of the gospel, and enlist under the 
banner of Christ ; while others have been constrained[ 
to retreat in silence before the united exertions of the 
friends of truth, to detect and refute their absurd and 
dangerous sentiments. This has been God's usual 



13 

conduct towards us. Whenever the enemy has ap- 
peared to be coraing in upon us, he has raised up a 
standard against him. He has blessed our churches 
and religious societies with p:istors and teachers after 
his own hearty who have fed them with knowledge 
and understanding, and who have been the happy 
instruments of forming a peculiar people for his name, 
amidst the nations and the gods of America. 

I shall conclude this interesting subject, with some 
pertinent and useful remarks. 

Thefiist remark that occurs is, that God has done 
more for us, on the whole, to make us a holy and hap- 
py people, than he has done for any other people in 
the world. Every people enjoy some peculiar privi- 
leges or advantages. Some enjoy a more temperate 
climate, more salubrious air, a more rich and fertile 
soil. Some are adorned with richer apparel, and 
taste more delicious fruits. Some are able to exhibit 
larger cities, m(»re beautiful gardens, mor6 superb 
palaces, more elegant sculptuies and paintings, and. 
some to live in greater ea.'^e. aMuence and splendor. 
But what are ail these things, in point of real worth 
and importance, cump.'ied wiih the diftiin.^uishing 
blessings we enjoy? Knowledge, liberty, and relig- 
ion, are worth more than all the raine«, and pearls, 
and plants, and fruits, to be found in the bowels, or 
on the surface of the earih, if vi e regard only the 
present life. And if we regard the life to come, our 
civil and religious privileges are ii. finitely more valu- 
able, than those of the oldest, the richest, and great- 
est nation on the globe. Who that has any proper 
se.ise of the worth of the soul, and the blessings of a 
happy immortality, would wish that any child of his 
should be educated, live, and die in Britain, in France, 



44 

i'u Spain, in Germany, in Persia, in China, or Peru? 
Is there a more favourable spot on the earth than 
America, in respect to temporal and spiritual privi- 
leges? Could we have our choice, could vvc find a 
place better adapted to make us holy and happy in 
this life and in that which is to come ? The inhabi- 
tants of New^-England enjoy complete civil and reli- 
gious freedom, tlic best means of gaining every spe». 
cies of useful knowledge, the. best opportunities of 
receiving religious instruction, and the best advanta- 
ges of living a useful and happy life. And what 
more can we desire, that God should do for us, as ra^ 
tional, immortal, and accountable creatures ? 

In the next place, we ought to reflect, that since 
God has done so much for us, we have much to do for 
him. He does not raise up a people, and grant thcni 
peculiar favours, for nothing. He has some impor- 
tant purposes for them to promote. When he raised 
up the children of Israel, and redeemed them from 
Egypt, and the nations, and their gods, he intended 
to form a people for himself, who should be the in- 
struments of promoting his honour and interest in the 
world. As he did more for tJiem, than any other 
people ; so they had more to do for Him, than any 
other people. They had to keep his sacred oracles j 
to preserve the true religion ; and diffuse the knowl- 
edge of his Being and Perfections through the earth. 
They had to prepare the way for the coming of the 
Messiah, and to spread the gosj)el of Christ among 
those who had never enjoyed their great and distin- 
guishing privileges. These great and important pur- 
poses they fully answered, before they were disin- 
herited and scattered over the face of the earth. And 
no doubt God has given us this goodly heritage, and 



granted us s» many rich and peculiar privileges, to 
answer some important designs of providence. 
Though he intends that all other nations shall glori- 
fy him^ yet they may glorify him in one way, and 
we in another. They may glorify hira, by pulling 
down the kingdom of Satan ; and we by building up 
the kingdom of Christ. They may be objects upoa 
which to display his justice^ and we the objects upon 
which to display his mercy. J hey may be the occa- 
sion, and we the cause of enlarging, purifying, and 
adorning the christian Church Both the word and 
providence of God lead us to expect, that the errours 
and delusions of Pagans, Papists, Jews, and Mahom- 
etans, are soon to be destroyed. But these errours 
and delusions are so riveted in the minds, and so 
connected with the manners and politicks of the na- 
tions where they prevail, that they will sooner give 
up their lives, than iht'iv false religions. Of course, 
the destruction of their errours must prove the de- 
struction of themselves. It must be supposed, there- 
fore, that in less than two hundred years, great revo- 
lutions and desolations will spread over the anti- 
christian nations and their gods. But as we know, 
that the gates of hell shall not ultimately prevail 
against the Church ; so we may confidently expect, 
that it will actually flourish in one part of the world, 
if it he obstructed, or extinguished in another. The 
falling of other kingdoms will be the rising of the 
kingdom of Christ. And since the true religion has, 
for a long time, been spreading from the Kast to the 
West, there is reason to believe, that God has much 
for us to do for him, in carrying into execution the 
purposes of his grace, in building up Zion, iu this 
large quarter of the globe. 



16 

It must be remarketl, in the first place, and tlic re- 
mark ought to make a deep impression on every mind, 
that our great and peculiar privileges of a civil and 
religious nature, have greatly aggravated the guilt of 
our natix)nal declensions in virtue and piety. God 
told his ancient people, that they were heiit to hack- 
alidingf notwithstanding he had bound them to obe- 
dience, by the strongest and most endearing motives ; 
which extremely aggravated their national guilt. He 
highly resented and sharply reproved their numerous 
and aggravated transgressions. ''Hear, O heavens ; 
and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken; I 
have nourished and brought up children, and they 
have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his own- 
er, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not 
know^, my people doth not consider. Ah ! sinful na- 
tion ; a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil- 
doers, children that are corrupters; they have forsa- 
ken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of 
Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.*' As 
we have been distinguished with divine favours like 
Israel, so our sins are aggravated like theirs. We 
have sinned not only against the giver of all our mer- 
cies, but against the examples, the labours, the suf- 
ferings of our forefathers, and the benevolent exer- 
tions and costly sacrifices of thousands of our co- 
temporaries. All our possessions, privileges and ad- 
vantages, have been dearly purchased. They are 
the fruits of the privations, perils, blood, and treas- 
ure of many generations. These circumstances are 
peculiar aggravations of our disobedient and rebel- 
lious conduct towards our God, and the God of our 
fathers. 

In particular^ our ingratitude for the bounties of 



i,rovl(!encC;, is a sin of the deepM'die. Tlie Hea. 
theiis are accused of ingratitude "5' bul; Vvliat is the 
criminality of tlieir ingratitude in comparison with 
ours. They know not from whence their blessing*; 
come; ?jut we know tliat every good gift an I evety 
perfect gift conaes from the Father of mercies. They 
know not, as we do, the worth of the blessings they 
enjoy. They are ignorant, hut we are not, of the 
solemn account to be given of the use that is made 
of the favours, which God bestows upon his sinful 
and ill-deserving creatures. They are ungrateful to 
an unknown God, but we are ungrateful to a known 
' Creator and Benefactor, which extremely aggravates 
our baseness and guilt. 

The disbelief of the existence of God, and the t)i- 
\ vine Inspiration of the Scriptures, is far more crirni- 
I nal in this enlightened land, than in any other part 
I of the world. Atheists and Deists have long existed, 
; and propagated their absurd and destructive opin- 
ions, in various christian countries ; but such Infidel* 
are of recent rise in New-England. They have not 
presumed to avow their corrupt and demoralizing 
sentiments till very lately, because they knew, that 
the great majority of the people here, had been! early 
taught to believe the Being and perfections of the 
"" Beity, and the truth and divinity of his Holy Word. 
And had it not been for the astonishing spread of in- 
fidelity in Europe, infidels would still have been ^ ery 
scarce among us. But now they are numerous, and 
their profane and vain babblings diffuse the poison of 
crrour and ungodliness far and wide, which eats as 4 
canker the hearts of the learned and( unlearned. Onif 
infidelity bears the black mark, and contains the ag- 
gravated guilt of dpostdcy. 

The gross Heresies, which have crept into our 
chare hes and religious societies, are extremely crimi- 



18 

ual ami otfensive to God, who has favoured us witk 
better means and opportunities for relii;ious instruc- 
tion, than he has granted to any other people. Our 
fathers maintained able and faithful ministers to teach 
and inculcate the peculiar doctrines of grace. They 
constantly attended the public worship of God in his 
house, and daily read his Word in their families. 
They brought up their children and households in thft 
nurture and admonition of the Lord, and obliged 
them to remember the sabbath-day and keep it holy. 
Neither the young nor the old, had any opportunity 
or peculiar temptation to imbibe gross and dangerous 
errours. These virtuous and religious habits were 
transmitted from generation to generation, for nearly 
an hnndred and fifty years. Nor are they entirely 
erased from the minds of many to the present day.. 
But amidst all the light and love which God has man- 
ifested to us, many of the peculiar and important doc- 
trines of the gospel have been misunderstood, perver- 
ted, and totally denied. And both the perverters 
and perverted have contracted aggravated guilt, and 
have a solemn account to give for departing from the 
faith once delivered to the saints, and firmly believed 
and plainly taught by their pious forefathers 

The neglect and contempt of divine ordinances, are 
more criminal in us, than in any other people. God 
has always given us full liberty to worship him 'm 
public and private, agreeably to the dictates of our 
own consciences. He has every sabbath, and at oth- 
er times, opened the door of his house to us, and in- 
vited and commanded us to enter in ; but how many 
refuse ur neglect to tread his courts. "The ways of 
Zion mourn, because few come to her solemn feasts !" 
How many in our larger and smaller towns, deny the 
sanctity and pervert the design of the holy sabbath ; 



19 

ftnd instead of attending the worship of God, and th« 
ordiiiai'.ces of the gospel on that day, spend it in idle- 
ness, or sonic other way^ more agreeable to their cor- 
rupt hearts. These are sins directly pointed against 
God, and are sad marks of our deep declension and 
aggravated guilt. 

Prodigality has arisen to an exorbitant height 
among this young and half-grown people. Europe- 
ans have remarked our egregious folly and guilt, in 
running into this most impoverishing and demoraliz- 
ing vice, which has ruined so many great and opulent 
nations. We have nearly exhausted our pecuniary 
resources, by purchasing foreign fineries and luxu- 
ries ; which have led us to renounce our indus- 
try for indolence, and our republican virtues for every 
species of vice and impiety. These deplorable ef- 
fects of our prodigality mark our base degeneracy in 
the view of the world, and our aggravated guilt in 
the sight of God. 

But this subject, on this day, leads us to remark, 
in the last place, that we owe an immense debt of 
gratitude to God, for raising us up from a very small 
beginning, and forming us into a large, mighty, and 
flourishing nation. The close of this day is the close 
of this year, and the close of this year is the close of 
the Second Century, since our Forefathers first plan- 
ted a Christian Church in this uncivilized and un- 
€hristianized country. Mr. Prince of Boston, Mr. 
Dexter of Dedham, and Dr. Holmes of Cambridge 
tell us, that our pious ancestors kept their first Sab- 
bath in Plymouth, on the thirty-first day of Decem- 
ber, 1720. Why the twenty-second, rather than the 
thirty-first day of the month, has been so long cele- 
brated as the Era of our national existence, 1 do not 
learn from our best Chronologists. But this, howey- 



^0 

er, seems to be the most proper ilay to commemorate 
the birth of our nation, and recogtiize the wonders of 
divine goodness towards us, from our infant to our 
present state. We are infinitely indebted to God for 
the great things, and terrible, which lie has done for 
us, to make us a pious, virtuous, and happy peoph^ 
Our gratitude and obedience ought to correspond to 
the number, variety, and vast value of the blessings 
wijich he has lavished upon us This indispensable 
duty Christ beautifully illustrated in the parable of 
the talents. Those who received them were express- 
ly required to occupy and improve them in the ser- 
vice of their benefactor ; and he that neglected to fiel 
and fulfil his obligations of gratitu<»a and obedience, 
was severely reproved and condemned. God sol- 
emnly reminded his people^, whom he had most high- 
ly favoured, what dutiful and grateful returns he had 
expected from them. Speaking to them by the proph- 
et under the similitude of a vineyard, he demands, 
'^What could have been done more in my vineyard 
that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I look- 
ed that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth 
"wild grapes.'' God justly expected, that his people 
should have been peculiarly grateful and obedient, 
because he had been peculiarly kind and beneficent. 
And he may justly expect more love and obedience 
from us, than from any people, on whom he has not 
bestowed such singular privileges, advantages, and 
opportunities of promoting his glory, and our own 
temporal and eternal interests. He may justly ex- 
pect, that his Churches here should be more pure and 
uncorrupt, than other Churches ; that his Ministers 
here should be more pious, more orthodox, more la- 
borious, and more faithful than other Ministers ; that 
His Rulers here should be more wise^ more just, aud 



more devoted to the public good, than other Rnlors ; 
that his People here should be more religious, move 
iiulustrious, more obedient, more temperate, and more 
peaceable, than any other Christian People. In a 
word, he may justly expect, that the great and nu- 
merous blessings by which he has distinguished us, 
should inspire us with an ardent zeal to promote the 
important purposes, for which he has raised us up a 
people to himself. God is opening to our view such 
future scenes and objects, as ought to encourage and 
animate us to employ all the means in our power, to 
build up the na,tion in every thing that is great and 
good. If God should continue to favour us in time to 
come, as he has done in time past, the next century 
may raise us to an elevated rank among the greatest 
nations on earth. It is supposed, that we have usu- 
ally doubled our numbers once in every twenty. five 
years ; and should we continue to increase in this 
ratio through the next century, it has been calculated, 
that at the close of it we shall amount to ninety-six 
millions of people. God has brought us into a broad 
place, where he can not only raise up and support 
such a great and mighty nation, but employ them all 
as instruments of promoting his glory, and the happi- 
ness of this miserable worUL And as our progeni- 
tors have been the instruments of raising us up to our 
present high and hippy state, so it properly devolves 
upon us, as a grateful and ladisppuj^able duty, to em- 
ploy all our civil, religious, and literary advantages 
in promoting the civil, religious, and literary interests 
of this rising empire. A very extensive field of la- 
bour lies before us ; and though it affords promising 
prospects, yet these prospects may often be involved 
in the dark clouds of public calamities and severe 
trials. This has been the course of divine providence 



towards us hitherto, and therefore we may expect^ 
that we have not only much to do, but much to suffer, 
in preserviug our liberties both civil and religious, 
and ill extending our borders to the western ocean, 
through avast wilderness filled with savages, who ar» 
supported in their depredations upon us, by those who 
are inimical to them as well as to us. To civilizo 
those who need to be civilized; to gospelize those 
who need to be gospelized ; to instruct those who 
need to be instructed ; to reform those who need to 
be reformed ; and to restrain those who need to be* 
restrained in this growing and widely extended na- 
tion, will require all the wisdom of the wise, all the 
virtue of the virtuous, and all the courage, zeal, and 
benevolence of the pious. You rejoice, and have rea- 
son to rejoice in the present prosperity of the nation ; 
but you have reason to rejoice with trembling, when 
you reflect, that the continuance and increase of their 
future prosperity, depends so much upon the short- 
sighted wisdom, feeble virtue, and feebler piety of 
those, who are now on the stage of action. Great 
zeal and benevolence have been displayed and are 
still displayed, in sending the gospel and the preach- 
ers of the gospel to the ignorant and uncivilized sav- 
ages on our borders. But there is a stronger inclina- 
tion in the selfish and avaricious to destroy, than to 
protect, enlighten, and save those poor, perishing 
Pagans. And all such persons will do more to coun- 
teract and obstruct, than to promote our benevolent 
exertions. 

We have the same kind of difficulties and obstacles 
to meet and surmount, in order to christianize Amer- 
ica, that our forefathers had to meet and surmount, 
when they first fixed ther residence among the nations 
and their gods in this country. They were pious an4 



I8S 



patriotic ; they loved their own country, and deter- 
mined to promote its spiritual as well as temporal 
prosperity. And they were wise and good to labour 
in liie iield where God had destined them to labour. 
This country is the proper field for our principal la- 
bours and benevolent exertions, to promote the cause 
of riirist and the salvation of our fellow-men. If re- 
ligion be essentially necessary to promote and secure 
the blessings of civil government and civil society, as 
our wisest statesmen tell us, then it is our imperious 
duty, to diffuse the knowledge and spirit of the gos- 
pel as far as possible through the United States, in 
p order to secure and promote our highest temporal as 
well as spiritual interests. These are interests which 
God undoubtedly intended to promote, by giving us a 
national existence ; and by the great and peculiar 
privileges and blessings which he has already con- 
ferred upon us. What he has done for us, is a pre- 
sage of what he still intends to do for us in future. 
We have good grounds to place an unshaken confi- 
dence in his wisdom, power, and goodness. The 
prayers of our pious ancestors and of their pious pos- 
terity, have entered into the ears of Him, who is able 
and ready to answer them. The burden of their fer- 
vent petitions has been for the temporal and spiritual 
prosperity of America. They have availed much, 
and will avail much to draw down future blessings 
upon this favorite land. We have the same encour- 
agement to trust in God, that they had, and are bound 
by the same obligations to do it. But our trust must 
be accompanied with our best efforts, to make this 
people both holy and happy. All our national inter- 
ests are now lodged in our hands, and it depends upon 
us, whether we will maintain or destroy them. If 
we are faithful to God, to ourselves, and to our pos- 



24 

terity, l&otl will never leave nor torgalce U3 ; nor suf- 
fer us to leave and forsake liitn. 

We have lived to see what none of ds will ever liv^ 
to Se^ agaiti — the Close of a CenUinj. To-molrovf 
we may see the bpginning of a neiv century ; hut^C! 
have no ground to expect to see the evd of it \h- 
fore that period arrives, we shall all follow one 
another into that world, from whencfe we shall neret 
return. In the course of the current year, there have 
been nineteen Deaths among this people. We shall 
not soon forget those who were near and dear to us. 
Though one century be just as lung as another; not 
gfo are th€ lives of men. The gravels without any 
order. Let no man boast of to-morrow, for he know- 
eth not what a day, and much less what a year, or a 
century may bring forth. Wliat vast numbers of 
mankind has the last hundred .years carried to their 
long home; and how many will the next sweep off 
from the face of the earth; how many more will live 
and die, before that Great Duy shall come, when the 
whole human race will find their flftal and nnchange- 
able condition ! We must all appear before the judg- 
lAent seat of Christ, where we shall be deeply and 
eternally interested in the decisions of that Supreme 
Judge. The celebration of the last century of time, 
will be a joyful festival to some, but a day of dark- 
ness and hopeless destruction toothers. If an. have 
the witness in themselves, that they are prepared to 
meet their Judge in peace, let them rejoice; but if 
any are conscious to themselves, that they are not* 
prepared ; let them mourn, repent, and return to God 
upon the gracious terms of the gospel, before (heir 
day of grace expires, and their feet stumble upon th<? 
dark mountains of death. 



Words by the Eev. JAMES FLINT. 

Music composed and sung by B, BROWJCf Es^, 
At the celebration of the landing of the Forefathers, 1820. 



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O, 'twas no earth-ljorn passion 

That bade th' adventurers stray ; 
The world and all its fashion 

With them had passed away. 
A voice from hpaven made them look 

Above the things below, 
When here they sought a resting place 

Two hundred years ago. 



(t, dark the Keae and dreary, 

When here thy sSt them down ; 
Of itornis and billows weary, 

And chilled with winters frown. 
Deep moaned the forests of the wind, 

Loud howled the savage foe, 
While here there evening prayer arose 

Two hundred years ago. 

'Twould drown the heart in sorrow 

To tell of all their woes ; 
Nor respite could they borrow, 

But from the grave's repose. 



i If greatness be in daring, 

I Our pilgnra sires were great ; 
I Whose sojourn here unsparing, 
5 Disease and famine wait ; 
S And of their treach'rous foes combined 
To lay the strangers low, 



Wbile founding here their commonwealtb 
Two hundred years ngo. 



I Tho' seeming ovcrzealous 
* In things by us deemed light, 
i They were but duly jealous 
I Of power usurping right. 
Yet nought could daunt the pilgrim band ? They nobly chose to part with all 



Or sink their courage low. 
Who came to plant the gospel here 
Two hundred years ago. 

With humble prayfer and fasting 
In every strait and grief. 

They sought tbe Everlasting, 
And found a sure relief. 



? Most dear to men below, 
5 To worship here their God in peace 
Two hundred years ago. 



1 

5 From seeds they sow'd with weeping 
* Our richest harvest rise ; 
J We still the fruits are reaping 
I Of pilgrim enterprize. 
There cov'nant God o'ershadow'd them, t Then grateful we to them will pay 



Their shield from every foe. 
And gave them here a dwelling place 
Tiro hxindred years ago. 



The debt of fame we owe, 
Who planted here the tree of life 
; Two hundred years ago. 



Of fair New-England's glory 

They laid the corner stone; 
This praise in deathless story 

Their grateful sons shall own. 
Prophetic they foresaw, in time, 

A mijjhty state should grow 
From them, a few faint pilgrims here, | Whe fixed the h.me of freedom here 

Two huniied years ago. \ Two hundred years ago. 



\ As comes this period yearly, 

*i Around our cheerful fires, 

i We'll think and tell how deariy 

i Our comforts cost our sires. 

I For them we'll wake the votive sonf 

I And bid the canvas glow, 



